Top-Rated Fruitcake

Fruitcake doesn't have to be a cliche

Forget the liquor-laden, rock-hard cakes of Christmas past. Today's confections offer a variety of interesting ingredients.

One popular pick, Collin Street Bakery's Deluxe Fruitcake (*Est. $23; shipping starts at $4) draws mixed reviews. Several contributors to SeriousEats.com call it "a fine, Southern-style fruitcake," while one foodie magazine criticizes it for having too many pecans and "artificial-looking" green cherries. Additionally, a few tasters at MondoFruitcake.com accuse it of being too bland. Still, Collin Street scores points for originality. Unlike other fruitcake manufacturers, the company eschews alcohol, opting instead to load their cakes with nuts. In fact, nuts make up more than 27 percent of this cake's total weight.

Sam Gugino of Wine Spectator magazine is more positive about Collin Street Bakery's fruitcake, saying it's "very moist, with more nuts than fruit," and tastes "plenty sweet and rich enough." RedPlum.com gives the Collin Street fruitcake a middle-of-the-road review. Its unimpressed taste testers award it sixth place out of 10 cakes, calling it "dry" and "boring."

Many reviewers rave about Gethsemani Farms Kentucky Bourbon Fruitcake (*Est. $35, including shipping), which is made by Trappist monks in central Kentucky. In their article, The Wall Street Journal taste-tests six fruitcakes and awards Gethsemani Farms first prize, praising its cake-to-fruit ratio. Blogger "Isabelle" of MondoFruitcake.com also lauds Gethsemani Farms fruitcake as "the cake against which all past and future fruitcakes will be judged." Additionally, several posters at Chow.com's Chowhound forums are ardent fans. Still, this fruitcake does draw some criticism. Editors at one magazine complain that it tastes too strongly of bourbon and is dry. Tasters at RedPlum.com award Gethsemani fifth place out of 10 fruitcakes in blind taste tests, calling it "moist" and "gooey," although some testers find this texture unappealing.

Mary of Puddin Hill makes a mean fruitcake, critics say. The company's Southern-style Pecan Fruit Cake (*Est. $30; shipping starts at $7) is consistently praised in reviews. Southern-style fruitcakes typically don't contain alcohol. Instead, they're often loaded with nuts, specifically pecans (native to Texas, where most Southern-style fruitcakes are made). MondoFruitcake.com places Mary of Puddin Hill's fruitcake above all others in the Southern-style category. One blogger there praises the cake's "candy-like" consistency and "fresh, home-made flavor." Sam Gugino of Wine Spectator magazine also tastes Mary of Puddin Hill's Pecan Fruit Cake. He enjoys its "sticky and delicious toffee-like cake," noting that although it is even heavier on the nuts than Collin Street's fruitcake, there were "still plenty of dates, pineapple chunks and dried cherries."

Bien Fait Specialty Cakes also offers a variety of interesting options through their online store. One fan favorite, their Cranberry Almond Teacake (*Est. $13; shipping starts at $5) earns a place in New York Times writer Marian Burros's top 25 picks for mail-order holiday food. She praises the alcohol-free cake's "dense pound cake loaves" and appreciates its "buttery almond flavor with a hint of tartness." In previous years, she's recommended this cake and Bien Fait's other cakes for their "new-fangled" approach to fruitcake, with high quality and delightful flavor. Unlike old-school fruitcake makers, this confection's makers opt to omit overly jellied or tough fruit pieces, instead injecting their cake with fresher chunks of chewy cranberries and crisp, crunchy almonds. Bien Fait also gets the nod from blogger Cheryl Herrick at CrankyCakes.com, who loves all the products she has tried at their bakery, while a poster at Chow.com's Chowhound forums proclaims Bien Fait's cake "a delicious one."

Assumption Abbey's round, traditional-style fruitcake (*Est. $30 including shipping) wins approval from professional cooks and amateur fruitcake enthusiasts alike. This 24-ounce fruitcake made by Trappist monks arrives in a tin and is filled with an impressive 70 percent fruit, including Burgundy wine-soaked citrus peel, pineapple, currants, cherries and raisins. Monks inject the cakes with rum and set them aside to age for as long as 10 months. One thing to note: Most alcohol-containing fruitcakes are aged, which mellows the burning flavor of the alcohol and allows the different flavors of fruit, alcohol and spices to intermingle. The result in this case, reviews say, is a delicious and well-balanced traditional fruitcake. One professional foodie magazine reports this fruitcake is a favorite "largely because no one element was overpowering," while one Amazon.com reviewer amusingly refers to it as "the Jimi Hendrix of fruitcakes."

Not everyone is a fan of Assumption Abbey's fruitcake, though. RedPlum.com ranks it at the bottom of the 10 cakes they tested. Editors say it is "lovely looking" but complain that it burned going down and was the "worst" fruitcake ever. MondoFruitcake.com ranks Assumption Abbey third on its list of monastery fruitcakes, saying that although Assumption Abbey's cake is good, Gethsemani is still their favorite. In one review, a customer at Amazon.com complains that the cake doesn't have enough fruit and is too dry.

According to veteran food writer Marian Burros of The New York Times, Dancing Deer Baking Co.'s Brandy-Soaked Harvest Cake (*Est. $30; shipping starts at $7) is an excellent choice for the anti-fruitcake crowd. Dancing Deer replaces the usual walnuts, dark raisins and dried pineapple with brandy-soaked golden raisins, apricots and pistachios. The result is a fruitcake that's light in color, "delightfully boozy and moist, [and] not overly sweet," according to Burros. A topping of chopped pecans completes the picture of a fruitcake revamped. However, Dancing Deer fruitcake is only available seasonally; you can only buy it in the fall and winter.

RedPlum.com's top-rated cake, the Berries, Cherries 'N Nuts Fruitcake by Women Helping Other Women (*Est. $12; shipping starts at $7), also deserves a mention, since it's a good choice for health-conscious consumers. This fruitcake brims with antioxidant-rich berries, including dried bing and tart cherries, blueberries and cranberries. It's also low in fat and sugar, and it contains no high fructose corn syrup. Although we couldn't find any other reviews for this cake, RedPlum.com's testers raved about it, describing it as tasty, moist, chewy and chunky.